Mitsuzane Kureshima
is . He later becomes the second , supposedly succeeding his older brother Takatora as a protector of humanity. However he seems to have his own dark agenda, which greatly involves his former friend, Kouta Kazuraba. Character History Beat Riders Saga After Kouta's near death encounter with Armored Rider Zangetsu forces him to quit, Mitsuzane goes to Drupers and convinces Sid to give him a Sengoku Driver. From there, Mitsuzane becomes Team Gaim's second Armored Rider, the Chinese warrior-themed Kamen Rider Ryugen. After learning that the white Armored Rider, Zangetsu, is his brother Takatora, Mitsuzane resolves to uncover the truth behind the Yggdrasill Corporation's ties to Helheim Forest. Yggdrasill Saga However, learning of Yuya's fate prior with the intention of keeping Kouta in the dark about it, Mitsuzane renounces his earlier intent to expose his family's company upon being shown the ruins within Helheim Forest. Supporting the Yggdrasill Corporation in secret, Mistuzane maintains his appearance as a Beat Rider, going his own way to protect Kouta and Mai. Though he answers to Ryoma Sengoku, Mitsuzane learns that the scientist and his group are acting on their own agenda. Like his brother, Takatora, Mitsuzane is smart and revealed to be quite a manipulator with a desire to make sure Mai would live in blissful ignorance. Helheim & Overlord Saga While initially admiring Kouta for his earnestness, Mitsuzane gradually finds Kouta's ideals and methods disagreeable, eventually become disillusioned with his friend after he tells Mai everything of the Inves and Yggdrasill's conspiracy. Combined with being slapped by Mai after taking his frustrations on Kouta for making her sad, an unhinged Mitsuzane plots to get rid of Kouta within Helheim Forest, so much so that he is willing to attack Kouta when his friend lowers his guard and kill him. His plot is foiled by the interference of Kaito who, despite not caring much about what is going on between Kouta and Mitsuzane, cannot stand such cowardly acts. Mitsuzane follows his brother and Ryoma's group into the forest intent on stopping the Over Lords, however, Takatora is ambushed by his own group and is thrown off a cliff. Mitsuzane ignores his brother's pleas to work with Kouta to save humanity and uses his brother's Genesis Driver to instigate betrayal to Kouta. However he is intercepted by Kaito. Mitsuzane is not as physically strong as his brother, despite the power given by the Genesis Driver. Instead, Mitsuzane uses the increased power and resorts to cheap tactics to fight as shown using the debris and junk off the abandoned construction site to his advantage and then calling Inves when he can't win. After escaping from an enraged Kachidoki Arms Gaim and Lemon Energy Arms Baron, he watches them from a safe distance as he turns off his transformation, revealing that he is now the new Zangetsu Shin. At Drupers, Mitsuzane is surprised to hear that Mai agrees to work there for free. Yoko then enters and asks both him and Kouta to come to Yggdrasill. There together with Kaito they hear from Ryoma that Sid betrayed Yggdrasill to seek the Forbidden Fruit from the Over Lords. After planning to find Sid in a separate way, Ryugen discovers where Sid is hiding. Rather than being enemies, they ally together and plan to kill Kouta and Kaito as Mitsuzane sets a trap into calling Gaim in Jimber Peach Arms for help as Ryugen in safe distance, then as Zangetsu Shin before Gaim arrives to find him, attempting to attack Gaim. However, he is easily defeated by Gaim Jimber Lemon Arms until they were interrupted by Demushu, with four Riders in a battle royale for the Over Lord until Demushu's escape through a sudden appearance of a Crack, leading Gaim and Baron to follow while Sigurd and Zangetsu Shin-suited Mitsuzane are confronted by Redyue, who after a brief skirmish gives up and tells them to follow where the Forbidden Fruit is. Already aware of Redyue's trap after she suddenly gave up herself, Mitsuzane knows that Redyue has been planning behind their back, as well as Rosyuo's, to obtain the Forbidden Fruit for her own, with Redyue taking an interest in his dark side after Sid left for the fruit in the possession of Rosyuo and got himself killed. Redyue gives Mitsuzane Sid's hat, with Mitsuzane unaware that Redyue has seen his brother alive. He leads an Inves army with Redyue and other Over Lord class Inves as they enter the real world. Forbidden Fruit Saga He tries to kill Gaim until Bravo arrives, as his fighting style behind Zangetsu Shin's suit cannot be fooled by Oren, leaving Mitsuzane speechless when Gaim demands him to reveal his identity. However, he manages to escape from Gaim as he uses Dyudyuonshu as a shield to block his attack, so his identity is not revealed. With all of his plans to manipulate events and eliminate Kouta ending up in failure and Kouta getting stronger, Mitsuzane becomes much more insane than ever before. He believes he can still win against Kouta as his former friend is "stupid and simple" and the power of Kiwami Arms he now possesses is only a fluke. Once the time comes, he can find a way to kill him and have him out of the way for good. Visiting Team Gaim's garage, his friends were relieve that Mitsuzane was alright, however Kaito and Yoko suspect that he's still hiding something. He then talked to Yoko as he reveals to her that he's working with one of the Over Lords to obtain the Forbidden Fruit. However, Yoko refuses the offer as she has no interest of obtaining the fruit for herself, but instead of a perfect leader to guide. She even told Mitsuzane that he has no home, due to his actions. Returning to Yggdrasill Tower, Mitsuzane was furious about Redyue making her announcement as he started to lose faith in the Over Lord. Sometime later, in his brother's office, watching the scene from the tower, and seeing that humanity has no chance of defeating the Over Lords, a hopeless Mitsuzane reaffirms his belief that aligning himself with the Over Lords was his best choice. Later, Mitsuzane wants his teammates to join him with the Over Lord as they started to suspect that he's acting strange. He went to Mai as Mitsuzane was furious that she would take Kouta's side, however she told him that she wants hope as she doesn't want Kouta to bear the situation alone, which leaves Mitsuzane unsatisfied. Mitsuzane decides to get Kouta from Drupers as he reveals to him that Kouta and his "hope" was something he once looked up to and believed that his unwavering will was why he thought Mai was best for Kouta. However, Mitsuzane tells him that it's nothing more than sweet optimism and that his naiveté has been taking their friends away from him. In a fit of rage, he transforms and reveals that he is the imposter Zangetsu Shin, attacking Kouta, who responds by transforming. Mitsuzane defeats Kouta, but Takatora appears from surprise, and lectures Mitsuzane about why he has become this person. With Kaito and Redyue appearing, and Kaito knocked down, Mitsuzane and Redyue disappear. That night, Mitsuzane sits down and has a lengthy conversation with Redyue if she has a family. The Over Lord revealed that she does, however her family were the first to be killed by her for entertainment, seeing that it would interesting if someone kills their family. He deeply thinks about what he did to Kouta and his older brother. He then receives a message from Takatora, who challenged him to a duel. The two arrive at the battlefield and say their final words before transforming and engaging in their duel. Despite having stronger gear, Mitsuzane is losing to his brother's skill. Mitsuzane plays dirty, but Takatora overcomes it and has a chance to kill Mitzuzane before he hesitates. Mitsuzane shatters Zangetsu's mask, and Takatora slowly falls into the sea. Personality He is initially a member of Team Gaim and Kouta sees him as his younger brother. He is the son of a director of the Yggdrasill Corporation and attends an elite high school, a side of him which he keeps hidden from everyone. Living under his brother's shadow, he wants to live freely and break free from the path established for him, as such he sees Team Gaim as family due to him being able to be himself while there. He also respected Kouta once as a role model in the early stages of the show, basing his own beliefs around Kouta's and always want to do more to help others. He also harbors a secret crush on Mai, which drives him to ask for a Sengoku Driver from Sid and become a rider himself when Mai is at wit's end due to Kouta being shaken to the core after the encounter with Zangetsu. After knowing that Yuya Sumii turned into Byakko Inves and for Kouta as Gaim unknowingly killed him, Mitsuzane tried to hide this from Kouta and even Team Gaim, trying not to disappoint his friends. Despite having a cheerful and optimistic personality, in reality, Mitsuzane also has a dark personality. He will use his own status or a current situation for his own benefit and sake. As shown, he convinced Sid to give him the Sengoku Driver, which Mitsuzane tells Sid that one day he will surpass his brother. Mitsuzane also forced Sid to give him a Lockvehicle or else Mitsuzane would tell Takatora that Sid is the one who gave Kouta the Suika Lockseed. Mitsuzane also stole the Suika Lockseed from his brother without any guilt and swears to betray anyone or everything as long he can retain his friends' happiness. He also tries to destroy Kouta after he learned that Mai likes Kouta more than himself. A majority of Yggdrasill know about Mitsuzane's inner darker personality. Alongside this, Kaito and Redyue are also aware of this sinister personality. As a result of failing to kill Kouta and attempting to manipulate other people's lives, Mitsuzane has been driven into insanity blaming Kouta for ruining his perfect image of the world. Upon witnessing Rosyuo's power when he destroyed the missiles that were launched by the government, he becomes even more insane, believing that he has made the right choice in siding with the Over Lords. His mindset is that when the human race is destroyed, he would finally be able to do whatever he wants without anyone getting in his way. His dark nature was then finally exposed to the Beat Riders resistance and later Takatora and Kouta. In his battle as Zangetsu-Shin, Mitsuzane was seen able to use almost anything in his advantage, for example throwing garbages and other objects (eg. sands for smokescreen) to keep the opponent busy, summoning Inves when outmatched similar to Kaito in his days as a Beat Rider, killing his own ally as an escape and even taking advantage of the opponents' weakness (eg. Kouta's naiveté and Takatora's empathy for him). Arms Like with the other Armored Riders and New Generation Riders, Kamen Rider Ryugen/Zangetsu Shin's forms are called . As Ryugen, all of his Chinese Soldier-themed Arms' helmets share the suffix as their title, while his visors are called . - Standard Arms= *'Height': 206 cm. *'Weight': 105 kg. Ability Perimeters: *'Punching power': 6.7 t. *'Kicking power': 10.2 t. *'Maximum jump height': 28 m. *'Maximum running speed': 100 m. per 5.9 sec. is Ryugen's default grape-based armored Chinese Soldier form. Accessed through the Budou Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapon is the Budou Ryuhou, while the helmet Ryugen wears is the . This form debuts in episode 4. In this form, Ryugen's statistics are the same as Gaim's Orange Arms, making Ryugen, in theory, a good substitution for Gaim. However, the downside of this form is that, as a gunslinger, it lacks close combat abilities. When Ryugen activates his Sengoku Driver's Squash function, he can execute one of two finishing attacks. * : Ryugen pulls the hammer once, making violet-hued energy shaped after grapes expel from the sides of the Ryuhou, with golden Asian lung energy coils circling the barrel. The energy balls then move to the muzzle of the gun, pooling into one big sphere. Once the charge is complete, seconds before the trigger is pulled, the ball takes the form of an Asian lung's head, and shots are fired at high speeds, with each shot taking the form of a flying Asian lung. * : Ryugen jumps into the air while purple energy surrounds his right foot that releases grape-shaped energy as he strikes the target with a powerful kick. Appearances: Episodes 4-9, Sengoku Movie Battle, 10-11, 15-17, 20-22, ToQger Vs. Gaim, Kamen Rider Taisen, 25-27, 29 - Kiwi= Kiwi Arms *'Height': 206 cm. *'Weight': 100 kg. Ability Perimeters: *'Punching power': 8.4 t. *'Kicking power': 11.8 t. *'Maximum jump height': 28 m. *'Maximum running speed': 100 m. per 5.7 sec. is Ryugen's kiwi-based armored Chinese Soldier form. Accessed through the Kiwi Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapon is the Kiwi Gekirin, while the helmet Ryugen wears is the . This form debuts in episode 10. In this form, Ryugen's offensive stats have increased enough to almost rival Baron in Banana Arms, making him very dangerous to face against with his Kiwi Gekirin in hand, and unlike other Arm Changes of similar caliber (such as Gaim's Pine Arms and Baron's Mango Arms), Ryugen's jumping height in Kiwi Arms hasn't taken a hit, allowing him to jump as well as he could in Budou Arms, as well as a slightly faster running speed, though this can be easily looked over. This Arms' finisher is the , which is activated via the Au Lait function on the Sengoku Driver. Appearances: Sengoku Movie Battle, Episodes 10-11, ToQger Vs. Gaim, Kamen Rider Taisen }} - Other Arms= These Arms involve Lockseeds that are normally used by a different Armored Rider. is Ryugen's pineapple-based armored Japanese Samurai form. Accessed through the Pine Lockseed (reserved for Gaim), this form's Arms Weapon is the Pine Iron, while the helmet Ryugen wears is the with the visor. Unlike Gaim, whenever Ryugen swings the Pine Iron, he summons a golden energy projection of a Chinese dragon that can attack the enemy. In Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbarizing, it is locked to a special Ryugen Kiwi Arms Ganbarizing Card. - Banana= Banana Arms is Ryugen's banana-based armored European Knight form. Accessed through the Banana Lockseed (reserved for Baron), this form's Arms Weapon is the Banaspear, while the helmet Ryugen wears is the with the visor. In Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbarizing, it is locked to a special Ryugen Budou Arms Ganbarizing Card. - Melon= Melon Arms is Ryugen's muskmelon-based armored Japanese Samurai form. Accessed through the Melon Lockseed (reserved for Zangetsu), this form's Arms Weapon is the Melon Defender, while the helmet Ryugen wears is the with the visor. In Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbarizing, it is locked to a special Ryugen Budou Arms Ganbarizing Card. }} - Rider Arms= These Arms are based on Kamen Riders from the past. is a special form, based on Kamen Rider Double's CycloneJoker form, exclusive to Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Gaim & Wizard: The Fateful Sengoku Movie Battle. Accessed through the Double Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapon is the Trigger Magnum. An apparent side effect of the Legend Rider Lockseeds is channeling the represented Rider's personality, with Mitsuzane in Double Arms proclaiming before executing the Maximum Drive. - Fourze= Fourze Arms is Ryugen's Kamen Rider Fourze-based armored form. Accessed through the Fourze Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapon is the Rocket Module. In Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbarizing, it is locked to a special Ryugen Kiwi Arms Ganbarizing Card. }} }} - Zangetsu Shin= - Melon Energy= Melon Energy Arms *'Height': 206 cm. *'Weight': 109 kg. Ability Perimeters: *'Punching power': 14.3 t. *'Kicking power': 18.2 t. *'Maximum jump height': 24 m. *'Maximum running speed': 100 m. per 6.1 sec. is Zangetsu Shin's default cantaloupe-based armored Japanese Samurai form. Accessed through the Melon Energy Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapon is the Sonic Arrow, while the helmet Zangetsu Shin wears is the with the visor. This form debuts in episode 28. Compared to his fellow New Generation Riders, Zangetsu Shin can throw the 2nd hardest punch and his kicks are the third strongest. His agility stats, however, are about average. Compared to Ryugen's old stats as an Armored Rider, however, Zangetsu Shin has more physical power, but the agility stats are decreased due to the heavy armor. This Arms' finisher is an unnamed Rider Slash, which is activated via the Squash function on the Genesis Driver. Zangetsu Shin fuels all the energy from the Melon Energy Lockseed into his body, which is then converted into his Sonic Arrow before he slashes the target. Appearances: Episodes 28-29, 31, 33, 35-36 }} }} Equipment Devices * Transformation devices: **Sengoku Driver - As Ryugen **Genesis Driver - As Zangetsu Shin *Lockseeds - Gives access to Ryugen/Zangetsu Shin's Arms changes, depending on which lock is used Weapons *Arms Weapons - Weapons that come with the Arms: **Ryugen: ***Budou Ryuhou - Ryugen Budou Arms' personal weapon ***Kiwi Gekirin - Ryugen Kiwi Arms' personal weapons ***Trigger Magnum - Ryugen Double Arms' personal weapon ***Pine Iron - Ryugen Pine Arms' personal weapon ***Banaspear - Ryugen Banana Arms' personal weapon ***Melon Defender - Ryugen Melon Arms' personal weapon **Zangetsu Shin: ***Sonic Arrow - Zangetsu Shin Melon Energy Arms' personal weapon Vehicles *Lock Vehicles - Vehicles that unfold from special Lockseeds: **Sakura Hurricane - Borrowed Rider Machine from Gaim **Rose Attacker - Ryugen's Rider Machine List of Appearances *''Kamen Rider Gaim'' **1-31 *''Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Gaim & Wizard: The Fateful Sengoku Movie Battle'' **''Kamen Rider Gaim: Sengoku Battle Royale'' **''Sengoku Movie Battle'' *''Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai'' **''Ressha Sentai ToQger Vs. Kamen Rider Gaim Spring Vacation Combining Special'' *''Kamen Rider Gaim the Movie: The Great Soccer Match! The Golden Fruit Cup!'' Behind the Scenes Portrayal Mitsuzane Kureshima is portrayed by . He was also a guest star in Episode 10 of Garo: Yami wo Terasu Mono. As Kamen Rider Ryugen, his suit actor is , who was previously the suit actor for Gokai Silver in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and Beet J Stag/Stag Buster in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters.Hobby Japan, November 2013 Notes *He is similar to Shouichi Tsugami from Kamen Rider Agito and Shinji Kido from Kamen Rider Ryuki, as they have the same Dragon motif found in Asia (Ryugen and Agito have a Chinese Dragon, while Ryuki has a Japanese Dragon). **He is also similar to Shuichi Kitaoka from Kamen Rider Ryuki, as both are supporting riders that used gun as a main weapon with a dominant green color in their Rider forms. **He is also similar to Mutsuki Kamijo from Kamen Rider Blade, as both became Kamen Riders at around sixteen years of age and they also have a dominant green color in their Rider forms. **He is also similar to Masato Kusaka from Kamen Rider 555, as his love for Mai has put him at odds with Kouta, like Kusaka's relationship with Mari Sonoda and Takumi Inui. They both also use another Rider's power to trick the primary Rider, never speaking during battle so as not to give away their identities via voice. **When he becomes insane, his mad laugh is also similar to Takeshi Asakura and Satoru Tojo from Kamen Rider Ryuki. *He is the only Armored Rider with a unique body type, as Gaim's body type is used by Zangetsu, Kurokage, and Knuckle, while Baron's is used by Gridon and Bravo. This also means that only his Sengoku Driver has a unique standby sound that isn't used by anyone else. With the exception of Bravo and Knuckle, as well as the non-summer Movie Armored Riders, all the Riders that share a body type also use the same standby sound. **Ryugen, however, shares a few asthetics with Marika. *Mitsuzane using the Double Lockseed could be a reference to him having two different personalities; his cheerful and optimistic personality and his secret, dark personality, and Kamen Rider Double is a rider formed by two different people. This also counts with Kuuga in his Black Eyed Ultimate Forms, and Meteor before his secret identity was dismissed for he apparently kills Fourze from defeating Aries for his personal goal to save his friend and before he was redeemed for his sins and Fourze's revival. **Even though he said "Count up your crimes" while in Double Arms, during the post first arc of Gaim and Battride War II, he ironically commits lots of questionable acts that tarnishes his honor and loyalty to his friends while causing his own city to cry and cower in fear of Inves, using his own team and the Beat Riders as scapegoats. *He is the second Rider, so far, to perform a face-heel turn, the first being Katsumi Daido. *Unlike Kaito, who retains his base suit (to differentiate Duke and Baron) when assuming Lemon Energy Arms, Mitsuzane does not retain his usual purple/green suit when becoming Zangetsu Shin. This is because the driver is set to have the base suit of Zangetsu Shin rather than the base suit of Ryugen. This allows Mitsuzane to put up a facade as the real Zangetsu Shin and his attempts to kill Kouta. **It is soon spotted by Bravo's battle sense of his fighting style inside Zangetsu Shin's suit. Later unmasked his true face to the other Beat Riders, with his older brother finding out as well. * Unlike most Riders in the Gaim series, whom went from being an Anti-Hero/Villain to Hero, Mitsuzane seems to be the completely opposite, as he changes from Hero to Anti-Hero, and later to a Villain Rider. Legend Rider Lockseeds *The following Legend Rider Lockseeds are styled for Ryugen: **V3 - "Chikara, Waza, Double Typhoon!" **Skyrider - "Sky, Henshin, Sail-ing Jump!" **Super-1 - "Seki, Shin, Sho-rin Ken!" **Kuuga - "Chō, Henshin, Ha-Ha-Ha!" **Double - "Cyclone, Joker, Ha-Ha-Ha!" ***Double CycloneJokerXtreme - "Cyclone, Joker, Xtreme!" **Joker - "Joker, Kirifuda, Sei-ya Ha!" **Meteor - "Hwacha, Ha-Ha-Ha!" References Category:Kamen Riders Category:Neo-Heisei Era Riders Category:Gaim Riders Category:Rival Category:Heisei Era Riders Category:Mystic Riders Category:Heroes Category:Sniper Riders Category:Restricted-use Riders Category:Relatives Category:Antiheroes Category:Beat Riders Category:Armored Riders Category:Supporting Riders Category:Antivillains Category:New Generation Riders Category:Villains Category:Evil Kamen Riders Category:Good turns evil Category:Extra Riders